On June 29th, a heat wave entered its second day across the lower Ohio Valley with near all time record highs for the month of June recorded at Lexington, Louisville and Bowling Green. Near the northern edge of this extreme heat, moderate westerly flow at 500mb and extreme instability set the state for a long lived derecho that raced across the upper Ohio Valley during the afternoon hours. This line of storms started near Chicago during the morning hours, growing in intensity as it quickly raced across central Indiana and southern Ohio. Although the thunderstorms stayed just north of the northern Bluegrass Region in Kentucky, an extensive gust front brought widespread wind damage and one fatality to several counties northeast of Lexington.

Event Narrative

A fatality occurred near the Bourbon - Clark County line. A man was killed after stopping to remove debris from a county road. Strong winds toppled a tree next to the road, hitting him. Several other trees were downed across the county as winds gusted as high as 60 mph.